Towards the construction of a high frequency groundwater monitoring network: first results in the framework of the MEET project

Valerio Comerci¹, Giovannella Pecoraino², Antonio Caracausi², Carlo Cipolloni¹, Domenico Barberio³, Adriana Damato⁴, Giovanni Desiderio⁵, Dario Di Muzio⁵, Barbara Grappein⁶, Andrea Mastrolia², Giuseppe Messina², Piero Nosengo⁷, Antonio Paonita², Federico Pedemonte⁷, Paolo Randazzo², Giuseppe M. Riolo², Antonio Scaramella¹, Emanuele Scotti⁷, Fabrizio Terzoni¹, Federico Tognetto⁶ & Domenico Traina^2
1ISPRA, Dipartimento per il Servizio Geologico d'Italia + SINA, via V. Brancati 48, Roma.
²INGV, Sezione di Palermo, Via Ugo La Malfa 153, Palermo.
³INGV, Via di Vigna Murata 605, Roma.
⁴Sapienza University, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Roma.
⁵ARPA Abruzzo, Viale G. Marconi n. 49, Pescara.
⁶ARPA Valle d'Aosta, Rue de la Maladière, 48, Saint-Christophe (AO).
⁷ARPA Liguria, Via Bombrini 8, Genova.
Corresponding author e-mail: valerio.comerci@isprambiente.it

Physico-chemical variations in groundwater are potential indicators of crustal stress linked to seismic activity. In Italy, non-volcanic regions still lack standardized, continuous monitoring. The MEET (Monitoring Earth’s Evolution and Tectonics) project, funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, aims to fill this gap by installing 25 high-frequency groundwater monitoring stations. These automatically record temperature, electrical conductivity, water level, and, at selected sites, dissolved CO₂ pressure, supported by a FAIR-compliant data infrastructure. Ten stations are already active in Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Abruzzo, Marche, and Calabria. This work illustrates the network’s technical features, site selection criteria, and first results from monitored springs and wells, highlighting the importance of the integration of geochemical, geological, and seismotectonic data. Completion by 2026 will advance knowledge of crustal fluid dynamics and research on the relation between physico-chemical groundwaters variations and earthquake events in Italy.

high frequency groundwater monitoring, national network, MEET project, interpretative model, earthquake precursors.